


Almost

by ohmymcgrath



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Established Relationship, F/F, Lena Luthor Knows Kara Danvers Is Supergirl, SuperCorp
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-15
Updated: 2017-10-15
Packaged: 2019-01-17 17:11:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12370266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohmymcgrath/pseuds/ohmymcgrath
Summary: The one where Kara almost loses Lena.





	Almost

**Author's Note:**

> I've been writing a lot of fluff lately, so when this idea came to me I was eager to give it a shot. Let me know what you think :)

"Kara?"

Kara grumbles and nuzzles further into the warmth in front of her, a contented grin etched onto her face that remains mostly hidden behind a curtain of black.

"Kara," this time with a giggle. And Rao, Kara likes that so much better. The lilting sound vibrates all around her and makes her feel even warmer - if that's possible - and Kara chases the sound with her mouth and a series of languid, open-mouthed kisses.

She hears a small moan, feels a handful of slender fingers sink into her hair where they drag and scrape - so gently, always so gently, even though Kara is made of steel and she of sunshine and pale skin - until finally they fist loosely in the blonde strands. She can feel them tugging, pulling her away from her little nest of warmth and happiness, and for a moment Kara resists. That moment lasts until she meets a pair of bright green eyes, crinkled at the corners, and realizes that the warmth and happiness hasn't left after all.

"Hi," she whispers breathlessly, staring down in awe at Lena's fond smile as the other woman chuckles softly.

"Darling, we're next in line," Lena points out with a little tilt of her head and Kara looks up, the rest of the world finally coming into focus.

Indeed, they are next in a long line in front of National City's most popular movie theater on a Saturday night. The winding crowd had given Kara the time to become distracted and she flickers her eyes to where Lena's hair is still parted over her shoulder, her pale neck dotted with patches of pink where Kara had nibbled her skin. The sight makes her smile.

"Oh, no you don't," Lena laughs, somehow knowing exactly what Kara is thinking. "I can't buy tickets with you plastered to my back."

Kara wrinkles her nose with a smile. "Sure you can." Kara left her hands free, after all.

As if to prove her point, she squeezes her arms a little tighter where they are wrapped around Lena's waist, holding the other woman against her. She gives a little nudge with her elbows to show that Lena's arms are free to do as they wish.

"Okay, okay," Lena relents with a smile. Still, she wriggles from Kara's arms and Kara lets her go with a small huff.

After all, this had been her idea. Lena had even offered a night in, pizza and Netflix and the warm comfort of Kara's couch. But they had only been dating for a few weeks (though the feelings Kara has for her girlfriend feel as if they have been there always) and it is still so new, so lovely to hold her in public and go on _dates_ , that Kara had insisted they go see a movie.

"Next!" the cashier calls loudly.

Kara groans but trails happily after Lena.

She doesn't remember much of the movie, afterwards. She does remember every detail of Lena's face, though, as the light from the big screen danced over her features, making her eyes shine like fireflies in the dark. She remembers her laugh, so carefree and unguarded and _Lena_ that Kara just couldn't stop smiling. She remembers the way their hands never parted for a moment, not even so Kara could eat their bucket of popcorn the right way (which, to Kara, meant with two hands).

"Did you like it?" Lena asks as they step out into the cool night air, their arms swinging softly between them.

Kara is looking at Lena when she says, "It was perfect."

Lena looks at her for a moment, a sideways sort of glance where one of her eyebrows raises and Kara knows she's been caught but smiles anyway.

"You're such a dork," Lena chuckles fondly, but she pulls Kara closer and kisses her cheek. Kara stops walking and finally lets go of Lena's hand, but only so she can cup her face between her palms and kiss her properly.

She tastes like popcorn.

They decide to walk along the seawall for a while, neither of them in any hurry to go home. There is a couple watching their kids play in the small playground nearby and they pass a few people as they walk, chatting about everything and nothing all at once.

It's wonderful. Until it isn't.

Until a man dressed in black, huge and sulking with his face twisted into an expression of pure fury, approaches them.

Kara feels the prickle of suspicion almost instantly; the hairs on the back of her neck raising as the man comes into view. He barely takes a step before she is angling her body in front of Lena's, her mind already trying to calculate the likelihood of danger and her eyes scanning him for weapons. Her fingers tighten around Lena's arm when she sees the gun he has clenched in his fist, hidden beneath the long sleeve of his coat.

" _You_ ," he hisses, his dark eyes boring into Kara as he looms over her. 

She can hear a few distant footsteps, the chatter of other people, and she can't be sure if they are far enough away. Revealing herself as Supergirl when she is most certainly not dressed as her could be catastrophic. So she swallows hard and tries her best to talk the man down.

"Look, we don't want any trouble," she says, trying to keep her voice as calm as possible as she takes a few steps sideways to keep herself between the man and Lena.

The man takes a step forward and growls, "You think I don't know who you are?"

Kara refuses to allow her surprise to show on her face, but her mind is racing.

"I... I don't-"

The man scoffs. "Save it. I can practically _smell_ the Kryptonian stench coming off you. It's almost strong enough to mask the blood on your hands. Almost."

She grits her teeth and steps backwards, taking Lena with her as she tries to get some distance. To keep Lena as far away from harm as possible.

"Whatever it is I did," she holds her hands up, "I'm sorry. But we can work this out. No one has to get hurt."

There is a moment of silence, then. An impasse. Kara would think back on this moment a thousand times. She would ask herself, why didn't I heat vision the gun out of his hand? Why didn't I use my superspeed and simply take it from him and crumple it to dust in my hand? Why didn't I do _anything_?

"Yes," the man whispers. "They do."

Everything happens so fast. The man rushes her, and Kara is taken by surprise. When he shoves, she falls, hard, the breath knocked out of her as she stares up at him. Then he is barreling toward her, gun raised, a snarl twisting his face and Kara knows he is going to pull the trigger.

She doesn't even feel afraid. The barrel of the gun is pointed directly at her heart and yet there isn't a sliver of fear in her chest. She is Supergirl. She is bulletproof.

She is stupid.

Because she is so focused on where the man is pointing the gun, that she completely misses the gun itself - the subtle green embers emanating from the barrel and the tingle she feels at the surface of her skin as it recoils from the Kryptonite buried in the bullets. She is so focused on keeping his attention on her that she doesn't even consider how the sight of her on the ground with a Kryptonite-laced gun pointed at her chest might affect the woman behind her.

Lena has always been the bravest person Kara knows; the most selfless, thoughtful, loving person she has ever met. And Lena proves it that night when she screams "No!" and suddenly there is a weight against Kara's chest as Lena throws herself between the man, the gun, and Kara.

The gun firing is a sound she hears so distantly that she barely remembers it happening. What she does remember is Lena's face. Her look of surprise, of apology, but mostly of fear. Not for herself, no. Not even then. But for Kara.

" _LENA_!"

The scream rips out of her throat like lava. It burns. It scorches. It is full of so much pain that she can't even contain it as she flies forward to wrap her arms around Lena's waist.

She has no idea what happens to the man with the gun. Her entire attention, her entire universe, narrows down to the woman in her arms.

"No, no, no, no," she cries, trembling as she cradles Lena to her chest and lowers her gently to the ground.

Her hands are fluttering everywhere at once, and when she lifts them they are stained with blood. _Lena's_ blood.

Oh Rao, please no... 

Distantly, she hears the arrival of the DEO agents and their shouts as they subdue the rogue alien they had apparently been tracking all evening (and reached too late). But Kara can't look away from Lena's face, from her wide eyes and the darkening patch of red staining her blouse. She is trembling; Kara can feel each tremor travel through Lena's body and into her own. Her hands are clutching her arms like a lifeline, her lips mouthing words that Kara can't hear.

"I-I can fix this. You're going to be fine, this is- I..."

Kara falls silent. She has never felt so powerless in her life. For all her strength, the extraordinary abilities lent to her by Earth's sun, she can do _nothing_ in that moment. What did any of it matter if Lena's blood is pouring over her palms and she can't stop it? 

The first of her tears spill over her cheek and disappear in Lena's hair.

"Lena, _why_...?"

At the question, Lena's face goes an eerily sort of calm. As if in Kara's words, she has found some kind of peace. Her mouth lifts in a smile and her nose scrunches just the tiniest bit. _Isn't it obvious?_  her face asks. 

"Because I love you."

More and more tears.

She has one hand cradling the back of Lena's head, but she brings the other to her cheek, stroking softly. Willing the sun to leave her and pass into Lena; willing it to heal the woman she loves.

"I love you, too," she cries into the space between them. _I can't lose you_.

"I-I'm sorry," Lena sputters, her green eyes going hazy as she struggles to keep her gaze focused on Kara's face. 

_No. No no no no._

"Help!" she screams to anyone who can hear her. "Someone, please help me."

She feels bodies kneel down beside her and suddenly there are hands everywhere, taking Lena from her. DEO agents, she realizes belatedly. Their black uniforms blur in the darkness but Kara only has eyes for Lena anyway, refusing to let go of her as she is lifted onto a stretcher and rolled towards the waiting ambulance.

The agent waiting by the door tries to hold a hand out to stop her. "I'm sorry, miss, but you can't-"

"Let her in."

A demand. Strong and commanding, though Kara can hear the frisson of fear hidden just below the surface. 

_Alex_. 

Kara looks up into her sister's eyes with gratitude, but only for a moment. It is all she can spare her, though Alex seems to understand. Her sister gives her a quick nod and then helps her into the back of the ambulance before climbing in after her. 

She doesn't leave Lena's side for a moment; not until she is being wheeled into the hospital wing and Alex has to hold her back to keep her from following. A pair of strong arms wrap around her - Winn - and Kara only lets go because of the urgent look on her sister's face. She slumps against the wall in a defeated heap, her hands resting in her lap still covered in Lena's blood. They are shaking. She feels weak; so weak. 

Alex would tell her later that she solar flared, screaming Lena's name. Kara shakes her head, unable to believe it. She isn't powered by the sun anymore. She hasn't been since the day she met Lena Luthor, since she saw her green eyes light up in her direction and felt the full force of her smile.

A smile that is now twisted into an expression of anguish in her mind, of Lena's blood spilling over her hands. 

_She will never forgive herself for this._

"Kara, she's going to be okay," Winn ties to assure her, but his words fall on deaf ears. Kara is too busy listening for Lena's heartbeat, the sound like thunder in her ears because she refuses to take her attention off of it for a moment, straining her weakened senses to never let go of the sound. It is too slow. Much too slow.

And then it stops and Kara's stops alongside it as her head whips up, face frozen in terror. 

"Kara?" Winn whispers, uncertain. 

Kara can't bring herself to answer. She can't even draw a breath through her burning lungs. Everything stands still, her eyes glazed as they look into the distance and _listen_. 

The 'beep beep beep' of a machine, someone yelling 'clear,' static and then silence. 

It goes on forever. When Lena's heartbeat comes back it is like a breath of air reaching her parched lungs. She lets out a choked sob, feels Winn's arms wrap around her. He is still there, hours later, holding her hand (it took him an hour to convince her to leave long enough to clean up) when the sound of footsteps finally echo down the hall.

She knows it is Alex before the door opens, is already on her feet and waiting with baited breath, her entire being wrapped up in the look on her sister's face.

It is relief.

Kara feels her heart start beating again.

"Can I see her?" 

Alex knows the question is coming; she has to. Just as Kara knows that it is a testament to how serious Lena's condition is that her sister hesitates so long before she finally nods.

Alex leads her through the familiar corridors of the hospital wing, stopping before a clear glass recovery room that Kara knows from her frequent quarantines under Alex's sun lamps. The room has been altered, though, shifted to fit a complicated series of monitors and wiring and tubing. Kara barely sees any of it. Because in the center is Lena.

She is lying atop a large hospital bed, her dark hair sprawled over the crisp white pillowcase. She looks pale and Kara can barely see the rise and fall of her breaths, but the machine beside her is carefully counting each beat of her heart and Kara keeps the sound tucked close to her own as she lets herself take a deep breath for the first time since she saw the man in the park.

"She's stable, but she might be out of it for a few hours," Alex explains. She is rubbing Kara's back with her palm the way she used to do when they were younger, when Kara would wake from a nightmare and climb into her bed for comfort. "It was... It was really close, Kara."

Kara swallows hard, something sharp slicing fiercely through the space below her ribs. Guilt. Fear. 

_She had almost lost her._

"She's a fighter, that's for sure," Alex goes on. "She should make a full recovery."

Kara nods, but can't bring herself to speak around the lump in her throat. She looks to her big sister and Alex, as always, simply _knows_. 

"Go sit with her." She gives Kara a soft smile and tilts her head in Lena's direction. 

Kara enters the room quietly, shuffling to Lena's side. She looks so small, so fragile, beneath the stiff hospital blankets. Kara wishes more than anything that she could see her eyes, could hear her voice. Maybe then she would feel less like she was standing at the edge of a cliff, so very close to falling. She settles for reaching for Lena's hand. Her skin is colder than usual, but otherwise just the same as it always is - soft, her slender fingers slipping through Kara's like missing puzzle pieces - and Kara feels her heart drop with a relief, a reassurance, she hadn't even known she'd needed. 

"Hey, Lee," she whispers, telling herself that she doesn't see Lena's eyes twitch, that the slight increase in her heartbeat is just wishful thinking. "I'm here, sweetheart. I'm... Rao, I'm so sorry."

She doesn't mean for the tears to spill over her cheeks. She thought she had cried herself out already, and she hates that she feels so small when she should be comforting Lena. She tries to stop them in a series of sad sniffs but ends up making a choked, sobbing noise that feels much too loud - and completely masks the soft huff of breath from the bed.

But she doesn't miss her name being hummed. 

"Kara..."

She freezes, going still as stone, her watery eyes flying to Lena's face to find her looking back at her. 

Green, green eyes, soft and light and everything Kara ever needed. 

"Lena-" Her voice cracks as more tears - of relief, now, so profound that Kara's knees feel like they might buckle - drip down her chin.

"Please don't cry," Lena mumbles, smiling despite the effort the words obviously cost her. Her fingers squeeze hers slightly, tugging as she motions Kara towards her. 

Kara hesitates only a moment before she scrambles onto the bed beside her girlfriend. Alex would certainly disapprove, but Kara doesn't have the heart to deny Lena anything she wishes at the moment. And, besides, she can't think of anything she wants more right now. She does try to be careful of all the tubes circling Lena's arm and tries not to jostle her too much, but settling at her side is like finding the other half of herself. And when Lena tips her head to the side, a knowing glint in her eyes, Kara buries her nose in the crook of Lena's neck and breathes, breathes,  _breathes_ until she feels the cracks of her heart begin to heal. 

"I thought I lost you," she whispers against her ivory skin, the confession tearing like a blade through her chest because she hadn't really allowed herself to think it, but she had feared it, desperately, all the same.

She feels Lena's hum vibrate against her cheek, feels her nestle closer to her. "You'll never lose me, Kara."

"Promise?" 

Lena squeezes her fingers where they are entwined between them. "Promise."

"Lena?"

Lena hums softly.

"Thank you," Kara whispers. "You saved my life."

Lena doesn't answer right away. Eventually, Kara feels her shift and she pulls away just enough that they can face each other. Lena brings her hand to her cheek, her thumb tracing the line of her jaw for a fleeting - beautiful - moment. 

Her voice, when she finally speaks, is so soft, so earnest, that Kara can actually _feel_ her words. 

"You saved mine, Kara. In more ways than you know." She smiles, and leans forward until their foreheads are pressed together. "And I will always be there for you."

It is a novel sensation, the warmth that begins to burn through her. New and familiar all at once, breathtaking in its intensity. Lena's words remind her of her own promise, what felt like ages ago. _Now you have someone that will stand up for you, always_. A declaration and a promise. It is love, pure and simple, and Kara can feel gratitude pour through her so strongly that she can barely contain it.

They fall asleep with their heads still pressed together and their hands intertwined, and when Alex finds them a half hour later, she covers them with the blanket she brought from Kara's apartment, and mutters a silent thanks to Rao for keeping them safe.

Then, as she looks down at the small black box in her palm (she found it in Kara's drawer when she went to get the blanket), she says another, this time with a smile.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me @ohmymcgrath on Twitter and feel free to forward your prompts :)


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